Alberton racers shine in wet and windy Historic Inland Tour
Despite challenging weather at Red Star Raceway, local drivers Bruce van Niekerk, Rob van Aarle and Blane de Meillion delivered strong performances and class wins in their respective categories.
Round 6 of the Historic Inland Tour took place at Red Star Raceway recently, and although the weather was cold, wet and windy, the on-track action was red hot.
Bruce van Niekerk of Brackenhurst competed in the Formula Libre category in his Future 3 Concepts / ALS Omega ’91 and claimed class D wins in both heats, finishing a respectable ninth overall.
He had an excellent dice in the second race with Tony Beecher, who has recently completed building his new car and returned to action in Formula Libre.
Rob van Aarle of Meyersdal had an eventful weekend in the Evapco Historic Saloons category.
During Friday practice, the exhaust manifold of his trusty Ace Auto Salvage Ford Escort cracked, but a temporary repair allowed him to qualify and race on Saturday.
Saturday dawned fresh and wet, with a slippery track surface during the early qualifying session. Despite the conditions, the Escort qualified fifth on the grid. A brief rain shower before heat one was followed by quickly drying conditions.
Rob achieved third overall and first in class in the opening heat, passing fellow competitor Anton Booysens (Ford Anglia) just metres before the finish line.
In heat two, he finished fifth overall but again first in class, with only 1.5 seconds separating Johan Gouws (VW Scirocco) in third, Booysens in fourth and Rob in fifth.
He will now be burning the midnight oil to get his Ace Auto Salvage Ford Escort Mk1 ready for the final event of the year at Red Star on November 15.
Blane de Meillion of Brackendowns competed in the SuperVee category and also had an eventful weekend in his Stealth.
Blane qualified sixth in the dry despite a slight misfire at low revs and second gear jumping out, which meant he could not use second gear for the hairpin. It began raining just before heat one, and Blane spun on the warm-up lap. The car was undrivable at low revs in third due to the misfire, so he decided to retire to prevent damage.
It rained again before heat two, but Blane managed a strong dice with two other cars for third place.
“The car in front of me sprayed oil all over my visor and glasses, so I could not see a thing with the rain and oil. I took my glasses off and drove slowly, rain pelting my face and eyes through the open visor, and managed to finish fifth,” he said.
The Alberton racers thanked the event organisers, track officials, marshals, emergency teams and ground staff for an excellent event despite the challenging weather. They are now looking forward to their final outing of the year at Red Star on November 15 and hope to see supporters there.
